And despite the success of other top marques in the UK like BMW, Mercedes and Lexus, Volvo have still maintained a solid brand image and a loyal customer base. So they certainly appear a resilient car maker.

However, China seems to have everybody’s attention right now. And i’m wondering is this a potential banana skin for the so called ‘established and suucessful’ global car makers. Blinded by the potential Yen a new market would generate for their over-produced and in some markets, devalued product, i honestly think they will end up regretting it (long term).

I wonder if the current crop of Chinese car makers are a little worried about getting their own products off the ground, or licking their lips at the prospect of getting first-hand knowledge of these ‘successful’ car makers.

Its always been my perception that China is a country, like Japan & Korean before them, will take this technology and somehow make it work a little better.

The Japanese did this in the 80′s and then totally took over the UK market. Some would even go as far to say, destroyed our industry completely. Personally i feel if we can’t compete, which we couldn’t, then we shouldn’t be in the game.

So it’ll certainly be interesting to see how the Europeans handle this new market and the trappings of the $$$!!